Caste, as it is experienced in everyday life, is the pièce de résistance of this book. Thirty-two voices narrate how from childhood to adulthood, caste intruded upon their lives—food, clothes, games, gait, love, marriage and every aspect of one’s existence including death. Like the editor Perumal Murugan says, caste is like god, it is omnipresent.

The contributors write about the myriad ways in which they have experienced caste. It may be in the form of forgoing certain kinds of food, or eating food at secluded corners of a household, or drinking tea out of a crushed plastic cup, or drinking black coffee in a coconut shell or water poured from above into a cupped hand. Such experiences may also take the form of forbidden streets, friends disapproved of and love denied. And when one leaves behind the fear of caste while living one’s life, there is still death to deal with.

Translator's Preface: Marked Bodies, Marked Minds

Perumal Murugan

Introduction: The Buried Treasure I Found

N. Arulmurugan

A Relentless Voice

K. Anbazhagan

Caste in Folk Theatre

M. Ananthan

Discrimination

N. Ranjan

Of What Use?

R. Rajasekaran

Only Son of the Family

P. Rajeskannan

The Ugly Face of Caste

P. Ezhilarasi

Of the Soil

T. Kalaichelvan

In Which Ganges Do We Bathe?

K. Kasimariyappan

Futile Whimpering

V. Krishnan

Pollution and Untouchability

P. Gunasekaran

Ugly Grin

P. Kumaresan

A Kind of Pain

S. Gopi

A Wedding Feast with Mutton

Govindaraj

Empty Pride

S. Sathiskumar

The Deep Pain of Identity

C. Chandiran

Snatched Freedom and Life

A. Chinnadurai

Like Eating Faeces

P. Suresh

Born of a Father, Born into a Caste

C. Sureshkumar

Upper Caste Goddess

M. Senthamarai

Non-Existent

V. Dharmalingam

Dealing with Inability

M. Natarajan

Testimony

P. Nallusamy

Keeping Friends

P. Balasubramaniam

Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell

R. Prabhakar

Acceptance or Rejection?

K. Poonkothai

Distancing

Perumal Murugan

Everyday Moments

R. Mahendiran

Excommunication

P. Muthusamy

Penalty

R. Venkatachalam

Family of Snake Charmers

M. Venkatesan

Stale Food

M. Venugopal

Taking Life as It Comes

...nowhere has caste been spoken about in the public sphere with such explicitness as in this book

Perumal Murugan in the Introduction

Key features

Caste, as it is experienced in everyday life, is the pièce de résistance of this book. Thirty-two voices narrate how from childhood to adulthood, caste intruded upon their lives—food, clothes, games, gait, love, marriage and every aspect of one’s existence including death. Like the editor Perumal Murugan says, caste is like god, it is omnipresent.

The contributors write about the myriad ways in which they have experienced caste. It may be in the form of forgoing certain kinds of food, or eating food at secluded corners of a household, or drinking tea out of a crushed plastic cup, or drinking black coffee in a coconut shell or water poured from above into a cupped hand. Such experiences may also take the form of forbidden streets, friends disapproved of and love denied. And when one leaves behind the fear of caste while living one’s life, there is still death to deal with.

Available formats

ISBN: 9789352804979

Paperback

Suggested Retail Price: $27.99

Bookstore Price: $22.39

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